It’s been several months since I last penned a Dumbest Product of the Week. The series was put on indefinite hiatus partly because we are spending more time covering actual cycling events, people, and the industry. Also, now that I’ve gone through the blood (literally), sweat, and tears of launching my own product, I think its best for me to reserve judgement outside of straight up product review. Call it a healthy new respect for those working to make their vision a reality.
My past columns often focused on products that attempted to over engineer solutions for problems that either were fairly non-existent or had simpler solutions. I’m not anti-technology; I just don’t care for technology for technology’s sake. (This is why I find Popular Mechanics and Wired kind of yawners.) Well, I came across a product this week that exhibits all of the good that can come out of creative people using technology. This product answers a specific pressing problem in an elegant, multipurpose solution.
Image courtesy of The Aquaduct
The Aquaduct is a bicycle with a built in water filtration system aimed at helping families in third world countries get potable drinking water efficiently. In many developing countries, water sources can be miles away from homes making it very difficult and time consuming to get water for cooking and hydration. (I experienced this personally in the Peace Corps.) It is also expensive and time consuming not to mention pollution creating to boil water to make it safe. The Aquaduct aims to provide transportation as well as pedal powered filtration for families in this situation. Plus the bike includes a clutch so individuals can pedal in place while they filter water.
The Aquaduct Team from IDEO. Image courtesy of The Aquaduct
The prototype was designed and constructed by a design team at the industrial design firm IDEO as part of the Innovate or Die contest hosted by Specialized Bicycles, Google, and Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. The contest challenge was to design and build a pedal-powered machine with some environmental benefit. As the winning entry, I really like how this team focused on a product that could not only improve the environment, but all directly help and empower people. That’s why I’m awarding The Aquaduct a Smartest Product of the Week.
Unfortunately, this is only a prototype with no current plans to put it into production. This is a shame as it would do more good many times over to improve the health and quality of life in the developing world than projects like the lavishly funded One Laptop per Child. Hopefully, more funding can make this product commercially available.
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